beowulf and the monomyth (the hero's journey) the monomyth world literature mr. brennan

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  • Slide 1
  • Beowulf and the Monomyth (The Hero's Journey) The Monomyth World Literature Mr. Brennan
  • Slide 2
  • The Story There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. Willa Cather Do you agree or disagree with this quote? If you agree, what are the typical structures of these repeated stories? Can you reference examples to support your claim? Do-Now
  • Slide 3
  • SWBAT explain Campbells theory of the Monomyth, and how it represents a symbolic search for individual identity and a cultures concept of the idealized member of society. 1. Unit Overview: Beowulf and the Monomyth 2. Mini-Lecture: Campbell and the Monomyth 3. Video: Power of Myth: The Heros Adventure 4. Mini-Lecture: History of England and English Learning Objective AGENDA Identify a hero/heroine from literature, film, or television and explain how he/she adheres to Campbell's monomyth. Homework Reminders
  • Slide 4
  • Units Essential Questions What is an epic? How does the epic serve as a narrative form of a national identity? What is a hero? How does Beowulf follow Campbells theory of the Monomyth, or Heros Journey? What are the implications? How does the hero serve as model of the ideal citizen? What are the conventions of an epic? What are the literary devices of Anglo-Saxon literature? How has the polytheistic pagan story of Beowulf been influenced by monotheistic Christianity? How do modern theories on myth apply to the epic, Beowulf? What are the origins of the English language? How has it come to dominate the global landscape?
  • Slide 5
  • Unit Overview MONTUEWEDTHURFRI Columbus Day The Heros Adventure No Class?Monomyth History of England and English Anglo-Saxon Literature Beowulf P. 315 Beowulf P. 1535 Beowulf P. 3557 Beowulf P. 5789 Beowulf P. 89113 Beowulf P. 113151 Beowulf P. 151169 Beowulf P. 169191 Beowulf P. 191213 Beowulf Essay Beowulf Essay Beowulf Exam Beowulf Essay Beowulf Essay Term 1 Ends
  • Slide 6
  • Final Unit Assessment In a 1250 word essay, examine the hero in Beowulf, as well as a person you believe to be a hero in contemporary American culture, and evaluate how they parallel with Campbells Monomyth?
  • Slide 7
  • Archetypes ARCHETYPES are recurrent symbols or motifs in literature, art, or mythology; in Jungian psychology, they are primitive mental images inherited from the earliest human ancestors, and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious. Archetypes create myths, religions, and ideas that influence and set their stamp on whole nations and epochs. An image can be considered archetypal when it can be shown to exist in the records of human history, in identical form and with the same meaning; thus revealing deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.
  • Slide 8
  • Joseph Campbell Campbell (19041987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. Campbell introduced the monomyth (one myth), referring to the theory that sees all mythic narratives, regardless of their origin or time, as variations of a single great story. This archetypical pattern, often described as the hero's journey, was described in Campbells The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
  • Slide 9
  • We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world. Joseph Campbell
  • Slide 10
  • 1. What makes a hero? 2. What are the two types of heroic deeds? What heroic cycle is followed in completing both deeds? 3. Psychologically, what is the purpose of the heros adventure? 4. What are Moyers and Campbells thoughts on the difference between a leader and a hero? What do they say about its application to individuals such as Napoleon (or perhaps Hitler)? What does this tell you about the perception of a hero? 5. Campbell distinguishes two types of heroesone who chooses to undertake the journey and another who is thrown involuntarily into an adventure. According to Campbell, in regards to the hero, how are these two types of adventures the same? 6. What distinction is made between a celebrity and a hero? Why does a society or nation need heroes? 7. We are each completing our own personal heroic journey, and each of us must vanquish our own dragon. According to Campbell, what does the dragon psychologically represent? What is his solution to slaying this dragon within you? 8. Over the course of our lives, and our personal heroic adventure, we encounter suffering. Who is responsible for our suffering according to Freud? According to Marx? According to Campbell? What is Campbells advice to addressing suffering? 9. What are Campbells thoughts on the truthfulness of myth? A Heros Adventure
  • Slide 11
  • The Hero with a Thousand Faces The mythological hero, setting forth from his common day hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark, or be slain by the opponent and descend in death. Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him, some of which give magical aid. When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero's sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world, his recognition by the father-creator, his own divinization, or againif the powers have remained unfriendly to himhis theft of the boon he came to gain; intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being. The final work is that of the return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection; if not, he flees and is pursued. At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread. The boon that he brings restores the world.
  • Slide 12
  • Monomyth: The Heros Journey [see website for video]
  • Slide 13
  • Monomyth: The Heros Journey Through the journey, the hero learns the truth about his world and himself. The journey symbolizes the search for individual identity and the cultures concept of the idealized member of society.
  • Slide 14
  • Ordinary World & Call to Adventure The hero's journey begins when the hero becomes aware of the world outside his home or town where he/she has lived for his entire life. His journey is usually given to him by a herald who helps the hero by acting as a guide. Departure Limited/Increased Awareness of Problem
  • Slide 15
  • Refusal of the Call Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances. Departure Fear/Resistance to Change
  • Slide 16
  • Meeting the Mentor & Supernatural Aids Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest. Departure Overcoming Fears
  • Slide 17
  • The Crossing of the First Threshold This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known. Departure Committed to Change Imperative for Cultural Dissociation
  • Slide 18
  • Belly of The Whale The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis. Departure
  • Slide 19
  • Road of Trials (Tests) The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes. Initiation Experiencing New Conditions
  • Slide 20
  • Meeting With the Goddess (Allies) This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Initiation Experiencing New Conditions
  • Slide 21
  • Woman as Temptress (Enemies) In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero- knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey. Initiation Experiencing New Conditions
  • Slide 22
  • Innermost Cave / The Approach Atonement with the Father In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. (The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the special world) Initiation Preparing for Major Change
  • Slide 23
  • The Supreme Ordeal Apotheosis When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return. (Out of the moment of confronting death/fear comes a new life) Initiation Big Change with Feelings of Life and Death
  • Slide 24
  • The Ultimate Boon (Reward) The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail. Initiation Accepting Consequences of New Life
  • Slide 25
  • Refusal of the Return Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man. Return
  • Slide 26
  • The Magic Flight Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it. Return
  • Slide 27
  • Rescue from Without Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Return New Challenge and Redirection
  • Slide 28
  • Resurrection Crossing of the Return Threshold The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. Return Last Attempts, Final Dangers; Growth at Redirection
  • Slide 29
  • Return with the Elixir Master of Two Worlds This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds. Return Mastery
  • Slide 30
  • Freedom to Live Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past. Return Mastery
  • Slide 31
  • Monomyth: The Heros Journey The Heros Journey simply highlights repetitive archetypes throughout heroic tales, it is NOT a rigid formula Many variations exist the stages can be deleted, added to, and drastically re- shuffled without losing their power. The essential characters can be combined or divided into several figures to show different aspects of the same idea. The myth is infinitely flexible, capable of endless variation
  • Slide 32
  • The Power of Myth The Hero's Adventure [see website for video]
  • Slide 33
  • Do you think that you shall enter the Garden of Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed before you? Qur'an WE ARE ALL HEROES it's about the trial; its about a transformation of consciousness The hero is always ready when the adventure approaches: the adventure that he is ready for is the one that he gets Lifes big question: When you cross the the threshold, and confront the beast/the dragon/leviathanwill you be devoured by it, or will you be able to conquer it or use it? Heros do not change the system, but learn to live and advance within it. Not to worry, you will have aids to assist you, but the last trick must be done by you. You save the world by saving yourself.
  • Slide 34
  • Question to Consider Do we create stories based on this paradigm through our collective unconscious or has the appropriation of Campbells model influenced the recreation of the monomyth?
  • Slide 35
  • Homework Identify a hero/heroine from literature, film, or television and explain how he/she adheres to Campbell's monomyth. (departure > initiation > return)